by Eric

Bouillabaisse

I was browsing through Mark Bittman’s NY Times blog, Bitten, looking for something interesting to do with squid (found that) and came across a narrative on Bouillabaisse. I had never made bouillabaisse… it always seemed complicated and mysterious, but this one seemed easy enough. I was inspired to get a couple of fish frames from San Francisco Fish Co. in the Ferry Building and get to work. w_fish_frames

Here’s what Mark Bittman had to say:

September 18, 2009, 12:01 pm A Long Island Bouillabaisse By Mark Bittman Speaking of Julia Child, as people seem to be doing, her version of bouillabaisse was among the first things I cooked when, in the mid-70s, I returned from my first trip to Provence. I doubt I’ve made it the same way twice since then. But I was at my friend Bob’s house the other day and we decided to more-or-less follow the recipe, since we had just about everything it took. The drill is pretty easy, once you assemble the ingredients, but assembling the ingredients can take a while. I gently sauteed (the chefs would say “sweated”) leeks, onions, and garlic in a lot of olive oil. (There are those who argue that the most important element of this style of fish soup is the emulsion of olive oil in water, and that there must be plenty of the former.) To that I added parsley, thyme, basil, fennel seeds, and chopped tomatoes. Then came 3 or 4 big, fresh and meaty skeletons of fish, and heads, roughly chopped. Am I forgetting anything? Water of course, and more olive oil, and I think I saw Bob sliding some Cointreau in there (we had no orange peel, always a nice addition). Cover and simmer for less than a half-hour. At that point I turned it off and left for an hour to allow it to steep and cool for a bit, then strained it and voila — gorgeous. Now you can do whatever you like. We chose to add potatoes (noodles are good, too) and celery (and/or carrots, fennel is a natural also) then cooked it until they were almost tender, then added big chunks of white fish (nearly any seafood will “work”), while we made the garlicky-spicy mayonnaise called rouille and toasted some bread. But it’s all in the broth, and I must say Julia nailed that one.

Simple enough, and I can do that, but since it’s my first time, I thought it prudent to check out Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking to get the basic quantities to go with Mark Bittman’s narrative. I found a clue on page 52: Continue reading →

10.09.09

by Eric

Tomato Soup Two

Roasted Tomato Soup

Another recipe from my “to cook” file is Roasted Tomato Soup. I clipped that one only last year from the 101 Cookbooks website. Since I’m on a tomato binge just now and my winter sauce needs are nearly satisfied, I’m looking for soups. I did a Tyler Florence Roasted Tomato Soup recipe from the Food Network, and it was okay, but the FN recipes always seem contrived to have an “angle” for TV sensation (especially his). In this case, he roasts cherry tomatoes on the vine for garnish. C’mon.

So I wanted a roasted tomato soup from a real cook and turned to 101 Cookbooks. Roast tomatoes, bell pepper, onions, garlic. Puree and thin with broth. That’s it. The recipe called for 5 tomatoes, but I’m using Early Girls, which are pretty small, so I figured about 2 1/2 pounds, and sure enough, that’s what fit on the roasting pan.

roasted tomatoes

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The soup was good. It’s very thick. I guess I could have made it thinner by adding more broth… but I like it thick, and what th’ hell, I’ll call it a sauce. In fact, I served it with bits of Italian sausage over whole wheat spaghetti… I just really wanted to do that. That was good, but I DO NOT like wheat spaghetti for tomato sauce. It has way too strong a taste for this sauce. [I originally bought the Whole Wheat spaghetti for a CI recipe tester recipe of Whole Wheat Pasta with Zucchini and Sun-Dried Tomatoes, a dish where the pasta flavor is the flavor of the dish.] But I digress.

I had a bowl of the soup for lunch. In spite of going through the blender, there were still a few seeds and bits of skin. Those are not tasty. Continue reading →

10.02.09

by Eric

Tomato Soup

Pappa al Pomodoro

w_early_girl_flat Marlena Spieler is one of my favorite food writers. Her stories and recipes appear in the SF Chronicle from time to time. Her recipes are always imaginative, reliable and not dumbed down. Her stories are entertaining, often coming from Europe, most often from Italy.

Since it’s tomato season and I was working on my third flat of tomatoes – this one Early Girls – I dug into my “to cook” files and pulled out this story that I clipped two years ago, but hadn’t got around to trying. She spun a yarn of the bakers of Napoli, their fabulous breads and tomatoes.

“Slice up a tomato or two, lay them on a slab of sourdough bread, douse with olive oil and various aromatics. This is lunch to get you through a summer, or to take to picnics, to eat alone, or to prepare for 100.”

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Being a soup guy, rather than a sandwich guy, I was more interested in her simple bread and tomato soup creation.

“I’ve also been making pappa pomodoro, a savory tomato soup thickened with chunks of flavorful, stale bread that one can actually prepare with canned tomatoes and it’s surprisingly good. But you can’t prepare it with bad bread; you’ve got to have the good stuff.”

w_garlic Well, I had my good Early Girl tomatoes from Mariquita Farm and good Acme bread, herbs and plenty of garlic… all set.

Since I had great tomatoes, I used 4 cups of tomatoes rather than add the juice. I had some tomato water as well, so I used a cup of that and 3 cups chicken stock. Rather than the ubiquitous basil, I used arugula – I like its spice – to finish the soup.

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Other tomato bread soups I’ve made are thick and rich – not a bad thing – but this is tasty and light, thanks to the added broth.

Another reason to like this soup is that the tomatoes are not processed, neither before nor after cooking. The texture of the tomatoes is a perfect accompaniment to the bread chunks. And yet the soup is so light and flavorful, its good anytime: as a soup course at dinner, or as a lunch – maybe with some cooked shrimp thrown in. The last cup, I had for breakfast, heated and poured over good buttered toast. Yum, yum and yum.

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Here’s Marlena Spieler’s recipe with my [notes]:

Pappa al Pomodoro with Basil or Arugula

1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced + 2 whole cloves garlic
3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + more for drizzling
About 3 cups chopped fresh ripe flavorful tomatoes [just under 3 pounds = 4 cups]
1 cup dry white wine (or substitute water)
1 quart vegetable or chicken broth [used 1C tomato water, 3C chicken stock]
6 to 8 slices (about 1/2 loaf) sour country-style
bread, cut into bite-size chunks
1 cup tomato juice; if your tomatoes are amazing, omit and add another cup of tomatoes
Sea salt
Chopped fresh basil or arugula [1C arugula]

Instructions: Lightly saute the onion and sliced garlic in the 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil until softened, then add the tomatoes [be patient, cook onions until caramelized, otherwise the onions are crunchy]. Raise the heat to medium or medium-high, letting the tomatoes cook into a saucelike consistency.

Pour in the wine and raise the heat to high, letting the alcohol burn off and the liquid reduce, then lower heat again and add the broth and bread. Bring to simmer and ook over a low heat for a few minutes while the bread falls apart and thickens the soup. Add the tomato juice (if using).

Meanwhile, crush the whole cloves of garlic with a pinch of sea salt using either a mortar and pestle or a knife on a cutting board. [Add 2t salt plus ground pepper.]

Just before serving, stir the crushed garlic into the soup, and add the basil or arugula, then ladle the soup into bowls, with a drizzle of olive oil.

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